This invention relates generally to computer interactions with a physical system and interface and more particularly to interactions with physical game systems.
Computers are now used by children for educational, interactive games, and these interactive games have become increasingly popular. Computers have not altogether replaced physical game boards and three-dimensional objects. However, there is a need for a substitute for manipulating physical objects to engage and stimulate creativity. It would be useful if a computer interface could be developed based on interchangeable physical objects that could be linked to an interactive game on the computer.
There are, of course, a number of human/computer interfaces which allow users, with varying degrees of comfort and ease, to interact with computers. For example, keyboards, computer mice, joysticks, etc. allow users to physically manipulate a three-dimensional object to create an input into a computer system. However, these human/computer interfaces are quite artificial in nature, and tend to require a substantial investment in training to be used efficiently. The artificial metaphors tend to break down and systems such as keyboards and mice tend to have inherently low rates of data input.
A number of interfaces are described in the July, 1993 special issue of Communications of the ACM, in an article entitled "Computer Augmented Environments, Back to the Real World." which is herein incorporated by reference. The computer augmented environments reviewed in the article include immersive environments, where rooms are filled with sensors to control the settings of the room, as researched at New York University (NYU) in New York, N.Y. Another example found in the article is the electronic white boards of Wacom and others where ordinary-looking erasers and markers are used to create an electronic "ink." Wellner describes a "DigitalDesk" that uses video cameras, paper, and a special work station to move between the paper and the electronic worlds. Fitzmaurice proposes a "Chameleon" unit which allows a user to walk up to a bookshelf and press a touch-sensitive LCD strip to hear more about a selected book. Finally, MIT Media Lab has a product known as "Programmable Brick" which lets children program by snapping plastic building blocks together, where each of the building blocks includes an embedded microprocessor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,398 issued to Hubby describes a digitizing tablet which is also a flat panel display. The system enables different scenes to be displayed on the tablet while a stylus which emits light moves across the transparent or translucent display surface. The light from the stylus is sensed and its position is used as input to a computer system. Although the scene projected on the display may change and the stylus may take different forms (such as a wide beam airbrush or fiber optic paint brush), the display surface itself does not change and the system is adapted to receive input only from a stylus which produces light at the designed frequency. The system does not identify the stylus and interpret the input based on the identity. The system responds to radiation at the designed wavelength, from whatever source, and "inks" the display (i.e. causes pixels of the flat panel display to become excited) at the corresponding location. The location of a stylus or pen provides input as it moves in contact with the surface of the tablet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,568 issued to Krueger et al. describes a system which observes a user and provides input based on the user's movement. Krueger et al. teaches a way to get input directly from the motion of a user without the use of user movable objects as part of the human/computer interface. While strides have been made in attempting to improve human/computer interfaces, there is still progress to be made in this field. Sensor based interface systems must somehow interpret input data from sensor signals in a way that makes sense to the user with respect to the real world.
Although the DigitalDesk and the optical display tablet provide a limited metaphor of a human/computer interface, there is a need for an improved interface which will provide a set of interchangeable physical objects linked to a computer game or other program. That is, what is needed is a method and apparatus for interfacing with movable interactive objects within a physical system, where the objects represent virtual objects that are manipulated in the computer program when the physical objects are manipulated by the user.